Young Commoners

The Future of the New Forest

The future of commoning rests with the ability of Young Commoners to continue this ancient practice. There are some important issues which need to be addressed in order to enable this. These include the ability of young commoners to remain in the Forest and obtain backup grazing and housing.

n 2007 a Young Commoners group was established. This group came about as a result of a successful commoning review meeting for young commoners.

A steering group got together and identified the three main areas of concern, these being;• Raising the profile of young commoners and increasing their participation in commoning & decision making in the Forest• The acquisition of back-up grazing to support their commoning activities• Education

The Young Commoners group aims to support young commoners through regular meetings where they can have their say about commoning matters. As part of the Commoners’ Defence Association the young commoners will support and contribute to the association wherever possible, reporting back to committee meetings through its younger members.

The latest development has been the establishment of a Colts Council. This is a group of under 16s who are involved in commoning. The group plans to organise activities to support junior commoners including learning about commoning and social activities.

Young Farmer claimsThose who applied as Young Farmers for entitlements from the national reserve and the young farmer top-up payment in 2015 will not have been sent an application form for BPS 2016.If they have not received a rejection letter for their 2015 claim, they need to order a 2016 application form by ringing the RPA asap. The RPA are saying 5-8 days to receive the claim form, and there are none online this year.These applicants will also need to include the following documents with their 2016 application:

Young farmer form (attached) completing Parts A, C and D

Original Accountant/Solicitor form completed in 2015

If the RPA has not returned the original Accountant/Solicitor certificate that was sent in 2015 – they need to include a copy of what was sent last year

Letter stating that ‘no changes have occurred to the structure of the business since 2015’

Also - ‘as the original Accountant Certificate has not yet been returned from the RPA, I am enclosing a copy of the certificate as evidence to accompany the Young Farmer form’

Copy of 2015 marking fee receipt

2016 application form for BPS

Please note, the 25% top-up payment can be claimed for 5 years, so the applicant will need to undertake the first three steps above each year.We will contact those we know of but if you are aware of anyone who applied for the Young Farmer payment last year, please passion the information above.Thank youTracé WilliamsAdviser, Land Advice ServiceDirect Line: 01590 64 6698The New Forest Land Advice Service provides independent land management advice across the New Forest and Avon Valley. We are funded and supported by the New Forest National Park Authority, the Hampshire a